Vancouver Island mountain bike riders are taking to the trails tomorrow to remember one of their own who died doing what he loved.
A memorial ride is set for Tuesday evening in Cumberland for a yet-to-publicly-identified man who died in that Comox Valley community’s popular trail system last week.
On July 9, the Cumberland Fire Department responded to a call around 6:45 p.m. for the biker who had crashed near the Blockhead trail. He was found non-responsive and his death is not being considered suspicious.
RELATED: Mountain biker found dead on Cumberland trails
The memorial ride is set for 6 p.m. and will depart from the Cumberland Recreation parking lot. The ride will head to the Blockhead trail and will climb as a group to the trailhead, have a moment for reflection and then train down to the bottom. Everyone is welcome.
The deceased had been an active member of the United Riders of Cumberland (UROC) since 2014, volunteering his time to contribute positively to the community and trail network as a whole.
UROC is a non-profit society which promotes and supports the local mountain bike community in Cumberland and throughout the Comox Valley through trail advocacy, trail building and maintenance, volunteerism, events and fundraising.
In response to some inquiries on social media following the death of the rider, UROC president Evan Loveless said given the proximity of both professional and volunteer emergency services in Cumberland, having first aid lockboxes or automated external defibrillators in the trails is not something the organization has discussed.
Loveless said their protocol, and what they tell trail users, is to use 9-1-1 for an emergency.
“We log over 12,000 trail uses annually and the number of accidents is tiny in comparison.”
For more information about the memorial ride, click here.
erin.haluschak@comoxvalleyrecord.com
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